Italian police claim that after a protracted investigation involving hundreds of officers, they have found more than 3,500 artefacts. According to CNN, the operation led to the detention of 21 people. At a news conference held in Puglia earlier this week, the announcement was made.
Numerous searches against people suspected of theft, illegal excavations, and the trafficking of stolen archaeology artefacts with “inestimable historical, cultural, and commercial value” were conducted by the police department responsible for protecting cultural heritage, the Carabinieri, in collaboration with the special operations group ROS and the “Cacciatori Puglia” airborne squadron.
Source: ARTnews
The operation was known as “Canusium,” a reference to the ancient name of the municipality where the trafficking organisation had its operational base, according to the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno. Investigations and safety precautions took place over the course of about a year in the regions of Puglia, Basilicata, Campania, Lazio, and Abruzzo.
There are 51 suspects in total, according to detectives, including grave robbers, international traffickers, and a form of middleman known as a fence, despite the fact that Operation Canusium has so far resulted in the arrest of 21 suspects. The fences allowed the selling of illegally recovered artefacts from archaeology, including vases, jewellery, oil lamps, and gold coins, on both domestic and foreign markets.
The 3,586 discovered artefacts date as far back as the 4th century BCE and include loom weights, bell-shaped kraters, jugs, cups, plates, tiny vases, oil lamps, and coins.
Francesco Tosto, the prosecutor, described the artefacts as precious and uncommon, putting a €50,000–€60,000 worth on the coins.
In addition, 60 metal detectors and other items indicative of covert excavations, such as long metal spikes and shovels, were found by Italian police, according to CNN.
Source: ARTnews
